Practical Astronomy For Astrologers, Part Two
Woo hoo! A big wavy line!
Last time, we talked about the Ecliptic Plane. Today we're going to have a closer look at it.
Imagine you're out in space looking at the Earth, and it's marked like an old-school globe -- like the one on your teacher's desk you used to stare at back when you were bored with whatever he or she was blathering on about. Earth has a red line around it running East and West around the middle. That's the Equator.
There's another line north of that, running parallel to the equator. It cuts through Mexico, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, and northern India. That line is called the Tropic of Cancer. It marks the northernmost point on the planet where the Sun can be seen directly overhead (specifically, on the June Solstice).
There's also a third line an equal distance south of the Equator. It runs through Chile and the southern bit of Brazil, on through Namibia, the northernmost tip of South Africa, and on through about the northern third of Australia. That's the Tropic of Capricorn. It's the southernmost point on the planet where the Sun can be seen directly overhead (on the December Solstice, in fact).
That wavy blue line in the middle of the graphic represents the path of the Sun across the Ecliptic (as seen from our perspective on Earth. It only goes up to 23 and a half degrees north or south from the Celestial Equator (23 degrees, 27 minutes if you're a stickler for details).
Now, here's the punchline for this two-part series. Here's my birth chart the way you're used to looking at birth charts:
And that blue graphic I opened with? That's also my birth chart, just laid out differently!
Aries is on the left and Pisces is on the right. There's my Jupiter at the top of the wave, at 27 degrees Gemini (which lines up closely with that July Solstice. Near the bottom of the wave is my Mars at 20 degrees Capricorn -- close to the December Solstice Point.
Many of you may be thinking "Okay, sure, but what does any of this have to do with astrology, Science Boy?" Well, you need to be good with these concepts for my next two entries when I discuss two factors in a birth chart that can add a lot of extra depth to your interpretations: Out Of Bounds planets (like my Moon, which you'll notice is in purple), and parallels and contraparallels. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and work your astro-knowledge like a pro!
Looks rather like an alternating current.